Hanul Unit 5 Reactor Automatic Shutdown... Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Begins Detailed Cause Investigation

On the 13th early morning, one of the four reactor coolant pumps stopped, causing the reactor to automatically shut down
Currently maintaining a safe shutdown state

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission announced on the 13th that it has begun an investigation into the automatically shut down Hanul Unit 5 reactor.

The NSSC received a report from Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power at around 1:26 a.m. that Hanul Unit 5 reactor had automatically shut down, and is currently assessing the initial situation at the local office installed on site. The NSSC plans to dispatch an incident investigation team composed of experts from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) to investigate the detailed causes.

Hanul Unit 5 had been operating normally since the NSSC approved its criticality on July 1 last year, a state in which a continuous nuclear fission chain reaction occurs in the reactor, and the number of neutrons produced equals the number of neutrons lost, achieving neutron equilibrium. This incident occurred because one of the four reactor coolant pumps stopped due to the opening of a power supply breaker on a non-safety bus that supplies power to non-safety grade equipment such as the reactor coolant pumps at the nuclear power plant, causing the reactor to automatically shut down.

An NSSC official stated, "The plant is currently maintaining a safe shutdown state, and the radiation levels inside the plant have been confirmed to remain at normal levels," adding, "We will thoroughly analyze the cause of the reactor coolant pump stoppage and review Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power's measures to prevent recurrence."

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